Editorial: Don't blame Gov. Christie for N.J. unemployment

Jennifer Brown/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie answers a question at a Town Hall held at the YMCA in South Amboy.

Trenton’s gone wild with finger-pointing over climbing unemployment, and Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski’s aiming his blame straight at Gov. Chris Christie. This is pure politics, just as it was when Christie was the Republican challenger, blasting Gov. Jon Corzine over job losses.

Time for a reality check: Attacking a governor over his ability to create jobs over the short term is silly — because, truth be told, there’s not much he can do.

Our state rides the wave of the national economy. And before Democrats fire at Christie, they should remember that their jobs records is even worse. From 2001 to 2010, New Jersey experienced a net loss of 156,100 private-sector jobs. Democrats also mostly ignored higher education, cutting funds and failing to make important structural reforms by reorganizing our higher education system, as Christie is doing. That should pay off over the long term.

Roche confirmed what we’ve heard all along from CEOs: It isn’t all about taxes or incentives. Tom Lyon, the manager of its Nutley campus, said the relocation was a tough choice that ultimately came down to the company’s partnerships with research centers, teaching hospitals and medical institutions in New York. Those collaborations help Roche to develop its medicine and win federal regulatory approval, so its drugs can be given to patients, he said. That was the primary consideration. As far as taxes and state incentives are concerned, he said, "it wasn’t the deciding factor."

"You want those clinics that have a lot of the patients, that have a lot of the experience that could partner with Roche," Lyons said.

This strongly underscores the need to develop our state’s capacity for biomedical research, in order to keep pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey. Here, Christie’s on the right track. His plan will boost Rutgers into a research powerhouse, one that could become a national leader in medical and biological sciences — if it’s properly funded.

But Christie is still falling short on that final step: providing the need investment. Instead, he’s promising tax cuts we can’t afford. This undermines his whole strategy and it’s particularly reckless, considering the big, baked-in costs about to explode in public worker pensions and transportation.

He just can’t resist the political allure of the tax cut. Blame him for that. But when it comes to job creation, give the guy some credit — he’s doing what he can to make New Jersey a research state worth investing in.